[Phnom Penh, 10/28/23] All roads lead to Phnom Penh’s sublime Central Market, of course. There, you can find every merchandise, fruits unknown to all scientists and faces you haven’t seen in years. Just now, you pass your long-dead aunt. Wearing a new dress of the latest fashion, she looks much younger even. Coy, she pretends not to recognize your sorry ass.
So calming, Linh, to read your words. You have a way of putting us right in the scene -- maybe because you write from the heart more than the brain. Our brains are sadly subject to the worst imaginable psychological assaults and almost always get jangled by the mindless clatter. Our days are numbered so we are probably well-advised to appreciate what is real, while we have the chance.
Shortly before the arrival of the web, when photocopied fanzines sold at record and comic book shops were still a thing, there used to be this darkly humorous zine called 'Murder Can Be Fun'. Each issue was filled with true stories of all sorts of macabre, gruesome, often absurd fates that befell Americans. In one edition, they ran a story called 'Death At Disneyland", which detailed an array of the large number of horrifying demises over the years of visitors to Mickey's perilous kingdom: people plunging to their deaths from, ground up in the gears of, or drowned in the toxic waters of, rides and attractions at the premier American fantasyland:
Someone once described life in the USA as like being trapped in a continent-wide theme park, where people wasted their lives chasing after paper tickets in order to buy crappy pizza. As the whole imperial shit-show shudders to a halt, it's easy to imagine many, many more deaths are on the way for Disneyland.
Thanks for your always thought provoking insights, Mr. Dinh.
I am reminded of what Thucydides said in his "History of the Peloponesian Wars." "The strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must." It hasn't changed much in 2,500 years.
“Though just eight miles from central Kracheh, I was in a different world.” This reminded me of some forays I made back in the 1970s in rural northeastern Maryland when I was stationed there briefly in the military. On one such trip, taking a turn off the pavement just a few miles from the base, I headed down a gravel road. Within a mile or two, I started passing shacks I would have called tool sheds, looking like the first good wind would take them down, except that people were obviously living in them. They stood by the side of the road as I drove past, looking at me like I was a space alien, yet giving me a friendly wave at the same time. It was like they had never seen a car before.
Later in the early 1990s, my work took me back to Maryland again for a couple of years, this time about 40 miles south of DC. Shacks like these were still in evidence just away from the paved state road. The difference now was that alongside these shacks were shiny new late-model automobiles (Cadillac seemed a popular choice). I guess the mentality here is in giving up any aspirations to home ownership and accepting that your car will always be the nicest and most expensive thing you will ever own.
BTW, I may have missed it in one of your earlier posts, but what is the reason houses are elevated on posts? Worried about floods?
You observed that most American soldiers are way too fat to march to the nearest KFC. I read recently that only 17% of US citizens that are of military age are fit enough physically and mentally to be eligible for enlistment. So you are talking about one of the 17% that actually made the cut!
It is disappointing but no surprise that the American Senate voted 97 to 0 to back Israel. For a long time now, Israel has been the third rail of American politics—anyone who dares to speak out against supporting it better have very deep support in his constituency, or he’ll be going down in the next election.
Your quote of Karim Benzema regarding the inhabitants of Gaza put me in mind of a recent report by Seymour Hersh on the subject. I don't know how many readers recognized it, but it may have unfortunate implications for those inhabitants. Hersh reports the Hamas claim that the bulk of the acts being reported as atrocities (i.e., the civilian killings and kidnappings) which followed their breach of the Gaza-Israel fence barrier were perpetrated by other militant groups and enraged Gaza residents. These took advantage of the fence breach, and with no Israeli soldiers present to stop them, went on a rampage. (https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-mysteries-of-october-7)
It occurred to me after reading this that it may have the unfortunate effect of making it easier to justify the wholesale destruction of Gaza, since “everyone” is “obviously” guilty of the reported atrocities. An exploration of the historical roots of all this would be (and has been) a book in itself, so I have to let that go by simply admitting that I don’t know how hate that has reached such levels can ever be put back in the bottle.
There are three reasons for these houses being on posts. 1) Flood 2) Wild animals, especially tigers, but these are no longer around. In Vietnam, tigers were so feared, they were called Mr. Tigers! 3) The raised house allows for another floor essentially, since what's below it can be used for cooking, animal raising, storage or even sleeping during the day and, now, at night too, since there are no more tigers.
Thanks for the story about visiting rural Maryland, Bill – very interesting observations you made there.
As for the idea that Gazans went berserk on the Israeli settlers after a breach in their prison wall was discovered…
Seymour Hersh once said something like, “You can tell when Henry Kissinger is lying, because his lips are moving.” Unfortunately, I think this applies to most Jews, and even Seymour himself at times.
I cannot understand how anyone can fall for the idea that a bunch of Hamas fighters paraglided over the Gazan border wall, possibly the most heavily surveilled border in the world, completely undetected… then their paragliders magically turned into parachutes as they landed at some wannabe hippie Israeli music festival, whose location had only been announced hours beforehand... and then they carried on their merry way to decapitate 40 babies, raping the odd beautiful woman on the way.
Miles Mathis has posted an interesting collection of observations about what is going down in Israel/Gaza. (This file is about 1.9MB, and you will likely get a security warning when you first try to download it, but as far as I can tell it’s perfectly safe… except that it might hurt some people’s world view.)
As with many wars around the world throughout history, we may never know the truth of what happened. I certainly can't say if Hersh's information is accurate, and if we want to indulge in speculation, I can come up with plausible reasons for that particular story serving the purposes of either the Israelis OR Hamas, or maybe both.
I've heard the rumors about plans to possibly gas the tunnels, and flooding them has also been mentioned. I have to think that with the effort that must have been put into developing such an extensive network, someone has considered those possibilities and tried to make at least some provisions against it.
BTW, a paraglider really is nothing more than a powered parachute--they used to call them that when they first got popular. It's really easy to just shut off the backpack fan and go into parachute mode.
I'm always looking for an excuse (or a pretext) to rest my head in some young beautiful woman's lap. It's better than ending up in some concentration camp somewhere, like, oh, I don't know. Maybe Gaza?
1/i hope the part of the world you are in continues to avoid the worst of war - as lord krishna tells us in the bhagavad gita, people have both divine and demonic tendencies
2/i thought i'd look up the 'horny back toad', as mentioned in the yellow brick road lyrics - but to my naive surprise, most of the pictures that showed up were of human behavior
3/recently i watched on youtube a tedtalk by catherine ingram - the blurb goes
“How is it bearable for tender creatures such as ourselves to bear witness to the events of the world”. In this poignant talk, Catherine Ingram draws on her 40 years of experience as a dharma teacher and ex-journalist to give us her practical suggestions to help us cope with a world of intersecting crises.
ingram says leonard cohen was her mentor, and she felt she could say anything to him, no matter how dark
in her view his song "the future" - written 30 years ago - was prescient
a phrase that recurs in it is "i have seen the future - it is murder"
nevertheless, ingram noted, it included the line "love's the only engine of survival"
she said that even in his last days filled with pain, leonard had a twinkle in one eye even while he had a tear in the other
a performance of that song, by erland ropstad and the salmon smokers, said by some to be the best cover ever, is at
The Jewish response to the Gaza genocide displays some traits that are pretty much unique to the Jews:
1. Goofy atrocities. They couldn't just make up the gas chambers. They also had to say the nazis turned them into lampshades and soap and masturbated them to death. The Gazans are digging out eyes, cutting off breasts and decapitating. Maybe it is projection because it is closer to the behavior and attitude of the Jews.
2. Yelling about being a victim while abusing others
3. Putting aside differences to do everything possible to help other Jews no matter what the other Jews have done. If Muslims did this, Israel would be toast but Muslims just sit around and let other Muslims be slaughtered
So calming, Linh, to read your words. You have a way of putting us right in the scene -- maybe because you write from the heart more than the brain. Our brains are sadly subject to the worst imaginable psychological assaults and almost always get jangled by the mindless clatter. Our days are numbered so we are probably well-advised to appreciate what is real, while we have the chance.
Shortly before the arrival of the web, when photocopied fanzines sold at record and comic book shops were still a thing, there used to be this darkly humorous zine called 'Murder Can Be Fun'. Each issue was filled with true stories of all sorts of macabre, gruesome, often absurd fates that befell Americans. In one edition, they ran a story called 'Death At Disneyland", which detailed an array of the large number of horrifying demises over the years of visitors to Mickey's perilous kingdom: people plunging to their deaths from, ground up in the gears of, or drowned in the toxic waters of, rides and attractions at the premier American fantasyland:
https://www.murdercanbefun.com/issues/
Someone once described life in the USA as like being trapped in a continent-wide theme park, where people wasted their lives chasing after paper tickets in order to buy crappy pizza. As the whole imperial shit-show shudders to a halt, it's easy to imagine many, many more deaths are on the way for Disneyland.
Thanks for your always thought provoking insights, Mr. Dinh.
I am reminded of what Thucydides said in his "History of the Peloponesian Wars." "The strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must." It hasn't changed much in 2,500 years.
We live in a world of high tech idiocy.
"With Jewjabs and the war in Ukraine, that’s three simultaneous Jew orchestrated genocides."
That one short sentence cuts through about 30 minutes of propaganda we just read from what is supposed to be the "alternative" media.
Your clarity is applauded.
“Though just eight miles from central Kracheh, I was in a different world.” This reminded me of some forays I made back in the 1970s in rural northeastern Maryland when I was stationed there briefly in the military. On one such trip, taking a turn off the pavement just a few miles from the base, I headed down a gravel road. Within a mile or two, I started passing shacks I would have called tool sheds, looking like the first good wind would take them down, except that people were obviously living in them. They stood by the side of the road as I drove past, looking at me like I was a space alien, yet giving me a friendly wave at the same time. It was like they had never seen a car before.
Later in the early 1990s, my work took me back to Maryland again for a couple of years, this time about 40 miles south of DC. Shacks like these were still in evidence just away from the paved state road. The difference now was that alongside these shacks were shiny new late-model automobiles (Cadillac seemed a popular choice). I guess the mentality here is in giving up any aspirations to home ownership and accepting that your car will always be the nicest and most expensive thing you will ever own.
BTW, I may have missed it in one of your earlier posts, but what is the reason houses are elevated on posts? Worried about floods?
You observed that most American soldiers are way too fat to march to the nearest KFC. I read recently that only 17% of US citizens that are of military age are fit enough physically and mentally to be eligible for enlistment. So you are talking about one of the 17% that actually made the cut!
It is disappointing but no surprise that the American Senate voted 97 to 0 to back Israel. For a long time now, Israel has been the third rail of American politics—anyone who dares to speak out against supporting it better have very deep support in his constituency, or he’ll be going down in the next election.
Your quote of Karim Benzema regarding the inhabitants of Gaza put me in mind of a recent report by Seymour Hersh on the subject. I don't know how many readers recognized it, but it may have unfortunate implications for those inhabitants. Hersh reports the Hamas claim that the bulk of the acts being reported as atrocities (i.e., the civilian killings and kidnappings) which followed their breach of the Gaza-Israel fence barrier were perpetrated by other militant groups and enraged Gaza residents. These took advantage of the fence breach, and with no Israeli soldiers present to stop them, went on a rampage. (https://seymourhersh.substack.com/p/the-mysteries-of-october-7)
It occurred to me after reading this that it may have the unfortunate effect of making it easier to justify the wholesale destruction of Gaza, since “everyone” is “obviously” guilty of the reported atrocities. An exploration of the historical roots of all this would be (and has been) a book in itself, so I have to let that go by simply admitting that I don’t know how hate that has reached such levels can ever be put back in the bottle.
Safe travels!
Hi Bill,
There are three reasons for these houses being on posts. 1) Flood 2) Wild animals, especially tigers, but these are no longer around. In Vietnam, tigers were so feared, they were called Mr. Tigers! 3) The raised house allows for another floor essentially, since what's below it can be used for cooking, animal raising, storage or even sleeping during the day and, now, at night too, since there are no more tigers.
Linh
Thanks for the story about visiting rural Maryland, Bill – very interesting observations you made there.
As for the idea that Gazans went berserk on the Israeli settlers after a breach in their prison wall was discovered…
Seymour Hersh once said something like, “You can tell when Henry Kissinger is lying, because his lips are moving.” Unfortunately, I think this applies to most Jews, and even Seymour himself at times.
I cannot understand how anyone can fall for the idea that a bunch of Hamas fighters paraglided over the Gazan border wall, possibly the most heavily surveilled border in the world, completely undetected… then their paragliders magically turned into parachutes as they landed at some wannabe hippie Israeli music festival, whose location had only been announced hours beforehand... and then they carried on their merry way to decapitate 40 babies, raping the odd beautiful woman on the way.
Miles Mathis has posted an interesting collection of observations about what is going down in Israel/Gaza. (This file is about 1.9MB, and you will likely get a security warning when you first try to download it, but as far as I can tell it’s perfectly safe… except that it might hurt some people’s world view.)
http://mileswmathis.com/isra.pdf
Have you heard the rumours about the Israelis planning to gas the tunnels under Gaza? I wonder if they will use Zyklon B.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me over and over and over again… well, that’s just called being jewed.
As with many wars around the world throughout history, we may never know the truth of what happened. I certainly can't say if Hersh's information is accurate, and if we want to indulge in speculation, I can come up with plausible reasons for that particular story serving the purposes of either the Israelis OR Hamas, or maybe both.
I've heard the rumors about plans to possibly gas the tunnels, and flooding them has also been mentioned. I have to think that with the effort that must have been put into developing such an extensive network, someone has considered those possibilities and tried to make at least some provisions against it.
BTW, a paraglider really is nothing more than a powered parachute--they used to call them that when they first got popular. It's really easy to just shut off the backpack fan and go into parachute mode.
Great post, Mr. Dinh!
I'm always looking for an excuse (or a pretext) to rest my head in some young beautiful woman's lap. It's better than ending up in some concentration camp somewhere, like, oh, I don't know. Maybe Gaza?
1/i hope the part of the world you are in continues to avoid the worst of war - as lord krishna tells us in the bhagavad gita, people have both divine and demonic tendencies
2/i thought i'd look up the 'horny back toad', as mentioned in the yellow brick road lyrics - but to my naive surprise, most of the pictures that showed up were of human behavior
3/recently i watched on youtube a tedtalk by catherine ingram - the blurb goes
“How is it bearable for tender creatures such as ourselves to bear witness to the events of the world”. In this poignant talk, Catherine Ingram draws on her 40 years of experience as a dharma teacher and ex-journalist to give us her practical suggestions to help us cope with a world of intersecting crises.
ingram says leonard cohen was her mentor, and she felt she could say anything to him, no matter how dark
in her view his song "the future" - written 30 years ago - was prescient
a phrase that recurs in it is "i have seen the future - it is murder"
nevertheless, ingram noted, it included the line "love's the only engine of survival"
she said that even in his last days filled with pain, leonard had a twinkle in one eye even while he had a tear in the other
a performance of that song, by erland ropstad and the salmon smokers, said by some to be the best cover ever, is at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co79H1ueQw
the oft-repeated chorus
"when they said repent
i wonder what they meant"
it reminds me of the behaviorist and the psychoanalyst, who met in the corridor at the university department of psychology
the behaviorist says "good morning"
the psychoanalyst thinks "i wonder what he meant by that"
The Jewish response to the Gaza genocide displays some traits that are pretty much unique to the Jews:
1. Goofy atrocities. They couldn't just make up the gas chambers. They also had to say the nazis turned them into lampshades and soap and masturbated them to death. The Gazans are digging out eyes, cutting off breasts and decapitating. Maybe it is projection because it is closer to the behavior and attitude of the Jews.
2. Yelling about being a victim while abusing others
3. Putting aside differences to do everything possible to help other Jews no matter what the other Jews have done. If Muslims did this, Israel would be toast but Muslims just sit around and let other Muslims be slaughtered
Thanks again for a great read and such lovely photographs of such beautiful people! And you, eating ze bugs!
Hi Peggy,
There's a great burger joint in Phnom Penh but I must abstain from bread right now. Can't even have a banh mi.
By the river there are stands selling ze bugs, with a $1 charge if you want to take a photo.
Linh
a very good read
Aw Phooey! To be surrounded by beautiful people. Bless you Linh. I'll read it in the morning.